10 charged in Internet prostitution

Illinois, Indiana ring placed ads on Craigslist

Four Chicago area men have been charged with running an Internet-based prostitution ring that employed girls as young as 15, sheriff's officials said Friday.

Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart said the arrests earlier this week came out of a three-month investigation, dubbed Operation Quiet Money, in which investigators monitored advertisements in the "erotic services" section of Craigslist. The ring operated in Illinois and Indiana and involved at least 11 women, some of whom were high school freshmen and sophomores, he said.

"If you're looking for exploitation at its absolute worst, this is it," Dart said.

Rodney "Mook" Williams, Eddie Wells and Terrance "Big T" Greenlee Jr., all of Chicago, and Gregory Key of Evergreen Park are accused of operating the prostitution ring. If convicted, they could face up to 30 years in prison.

Six women were charged with prostitution. The juveniles were questioned by police but released without being charged, officials said.

Two of the juveniles -- one from Iowa -- were runaways, officials said, adding the alleged leaders recruited some women from a strip club and found others at a currency exchange.

The operation was the third this year in which sheriff's investigators uncovered prostitution rings using Craigslist, Dart said. On Friday, he expressed anger at the company, saying his office has encouraged Craigslist to remove its "erotic services" section, but the ads continue to run.

"The erotic services link on Craigslist provides a free advertising network for prostitutes and pimps, and it's unrealistic for us to believe company officials are unaware of these ads," Dart said. He acknowledged the company has a legal right to run the ads but said "it comes down to someone being a good citizen."

Craigslist Chief Executive Officer Jim Buckmaster said in a statement Friday that the company does not condone ads for illegal activity and cooperates fully with police investigations. He also argued the company does more to ferret out bad listings than many print publications or phone directories that also run ads for massage or escort services. "We go to great lengths to prevent such activity from occurring, and to remove it promptly [from listings] when it does occur," Buckmaster said in the statement.

As part of the scheme in Chicago, sheriff's officials said, the ringleaders posted the Internet ads, took phone calls from customers and paid for the ring's hotel rooms. Officials said that the women charged the customers $150 to $600 for sex and that the money was split evenly with the ringleaders.